The Reason for the Rules
by FreckledWriter
Summary: Voight is serious about the rule that his officers are not allowed to date an officer from the same precinct. When did he come up with this rule and who was it originally for?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So I've noticed that Hank Voight doesn't have a lot of his own stories on here. That is a crying shame because that man is hot! I thought I would give us some more background on Hank. Reviews are love.

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><p>The Intelligence Unit had just finished their morning briefing when Sergeant Henry Voight's cell phone started playing the song "Let Her Go" by Passenger. Hank had been two steps from his office door. He quickly stepped into his office and shut the door. But not before Dawson and Olinksy had heard the ringtone. Antonio watched through the glass, hoping against hope that his boss would not answer the call. Much to his chagrin, he saw Hank put the phone to his ear and watched the word "Hello" form on his lips. There had been no words playing but Antonio knew the tune as well as Alvin did. He shook his head at the older detective who, after catching the look on Antonio's face, plopped down in his chair and sighed heavily.<p>

"Is your arm hurting?"

Ruzek who had been staring at his computer when Voight's phone rang, thought Alvin was sighing because he was still in pain from having his shoulder dislocated. He had tussled with a suspect last week and the fight had been bad enough that he now had his left arm in a sling.

"Uh, yeah. This damn sling is just so restricting."

They all sat in silence for a moment, looking over their paperwork. A short time later there was a rattle and Alvin turned to look as Voight stepped out of his office. The Sergeant had a searching, wondering look on his face. He looked at Antonio, then Alvin, then at Alvin's arm. Then he looked over at Ruzek.

"Ruzek can I see you in my office for a minute?"

A look of surprise went through Antonio's eyes. He shot the look over to Alvin. Alvin cocked his eyebrow at Antonio as if to say _This is weird_. Then they both went back to the papers on their desks. They had a lot of things to get in order if Voight was going to be extra crazy today, and go off on some ill-advised mission. One of them would probably be left running the intelligence Unit.

Ruzek was not a bit worried as he stepped into his boss' office and shut the door. He just assumed a CI had called with some information and he would be asked to track something that had happened electronically. But that was not what was happening and the extra serious, half panicked, look on his boss' face made Ruzek stand up straight as he spoke.

"I just got a call from a, ah... another cop. They need help. They're in a situation on 4th street and need me and O to come do some heavy lifting. However, as you know, O can't do any heavy lifting right now. Can I count on you to replace him?"

Ruzek hesitated to answer because "heavy lifting" could only mean so many things. Voight continued,

"Last week you told me that you wanted me to take you more seriously. You said that you could be counted on, that you were a part of this family. Today's the day you get to prove that."

"Okay boss. If you need me I'm there. Where are we going?"

"I'll tell you when we get in the car. Leave my office, get your coat, but leave your cell phone in your desk. I'll have my phone. You go out through the front doors then walk around to the back. I'm going to walk down the back stairs and meet you at my vehicle in a couple of minutes. As far as this office is concerned you're going to meet with a CI, not with me."

Ruzek nodded then stepped out of his boss' office. He went straight to his desk not making eye contact with anyone. He covertly slipped his phone into his top desk drawer as he put his heavy jacket on. As he walked past Alvin's desk to turn and walk down the center aisle, Alvin reached out and grabbed the corner of his coat stopping him.

"Where ya going partner?"

"Boss wants some deeper info on one of our cases. I'm gonna go shake a CI and see if anything falls out."

Alvin paused while looking deep into the younger detective's eyes. He let go of Adam's coat and quietly said,

"Whatever you're going to do... you remember that your boss is your first priority, and sometimes taking care of your boss means talking him out of bad situations. Him being mad at you for the rest of the day is not as bad as him losing his badge. Because if he commits another infraction, he will lose his badge."

Ruzek just nodded then continued walking out of the office. The door to his boss' office had been shut. Ruzek wondered how Alvin had known that the boss was asking him for a big favor.


	2. Chapter 2

Ruzek hadn't said a word yet. He had thought that Voight would explain when they'd gotten a couple of minutes away from the station. After ten minutes of driving and pondering Alvin's words, he asked his boss what was up.

"A patrol officer that I know has gotten jammed up. She's helped me out of quite a few jams so we're going to go help her. Alvin knows her and he would have helped her if I had told him who it was. But since he's not able to I'm not going to tell him who were going to help. He'd feel bad knowing he couldn't help her."

Ruzek's nodded as if he understood, but he actually just felt more confused. "So what does she need?"

"I don't know the details yet, but she was told a banger wanted to meet her in an abandoned house on 4th street. He was supposed to have the details about who committed a double homicide in District 22. She dropped her partner off to deal with another issue and when she got there, there were three bangers and they jumped her. They got her service gun but she slipped out of their hands and got her back up firearm off of her leg and shot them. She shot all three of them. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, except it's against her Sergeant's procedures to meet a source alone without telling him that you're going, which she did. She also has a young partner that she's not supposed to be leaving by himself. He's kind of jumpy so she left him and rushed there. He's only got two years on the job. Her sergeant doesn't like her and if given half a chance he will throw her out of the department. We are going to help her make sure he doesn't have an excuse to do that."

Ruzek was now officially worried. Some patrolman had gone off half-cocked and made a mess. Instead of leaving her hung out to dry, they were going to clean it up. Ruzek was surprised Voight was doing this and mentally prepared himself for the tongue lashing this kid was going to get when they arrived.

"So she killed three bangers? Are we going to fix the scene up or what are we going to do?"

"We're going to dump them out in the projects. No one will investigate their deaths that hard. She will just tell her partner that the guy never showed. Her partner will assume he got cold feet and no one else will ever know that she almost died trying to solve the murder of a mother and daughter today."

"Okay boss. If she's a friend of yours, she's a friend of mine."

"She's a cop." Voight said this fact clearly and fiercely. "That makes her your sister. If your little sister was almost raped and murdered by three thugs, what would you do?"

This question, that was more of a statement, stopped Adam cold. He had been his little sister's protector since she was a baby. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"If anyone ever tried to rape my little sister, I'd chop them up in little pieces and scatter them throughout the city."

Voight nodded and smiled a grim smile. "Well they didn't manage to rape her, she says, but I'm sure they had a lot of bad things planned for her. Like I said you're here to replace O, so act like O when we get there. Don't talk and don't assume, just follow my lead."

The abandoned house didn't look any more sinister than any other dilapidated house that Adam had ever been in, but once inside it was clear things had not gone as planned for anyone that day. One banger was just inside the door, he had probably been the lookout. He leaned against the doorframe with his back to the room. He must have turned his back on the patrolman thinking his two buddies had her under control. It had been his last and most fatal mistake. She had shot him right through the heart, through his back.

Two more gang bangers, guys who had probably been mid-level in the local gang, lay sprawled out on the dirty floor in the middle of the room. One still looked surprised, but they were both very dead. The one that still had an intact face had been shot through his heart, he had an entry wound in his chest. The other had been shot through his chin. What little brains he once had, we're now dripping from the ceiling and the top of his head was a gaping hole.

The house was empty except for the dead bodies, a few beer bottles, and a redheaded patrol officer in uniform standing in the middle of the room. She looked okay, her auburn red hair was smoothed back in a kind of French twist, her service gun was in its holster, and she had one hand resting on the gun and the other resting on her taser. Adam had thought she'd be young, but she was older than him. If he had to guess, he'd say she was about 34, with all of the right curves in all of the right places. She was only 5'5 this detail was probably why the bangers thought they could overpower her. They were both about 5'9.

Voight glanced around and stopped about three feet from the woman. He paused before he spoke to her. She kept her face, which Adam thought was gorgeous, blank.

"What happened? How did you manage to get your Beretta off your leg and fire a shot?"

The redhead, whose nametag said Wright, took a breath and said, "They were acting normal as I walked in, then when we got to the middle of the room, these two stood on the right side of me. One grabbed my arm, the other grabbed my gun. I twisted out of the first one's grip, dropped to my knee, took my Beretta off of my ankle and shot the one that had my gun before he could react to shoot me. I think they were both drunk. They seemed shocked that I moved that fast."

The way Voight had asked the question was not the way Voight usually spoke to a cop who had just screwed up this big. It was a quiet, scared, question. In fact, Voight hadn't been harsh or demanding at all with his words. He was being to the point, but he was almost being tender in the way he spoke to the patrolman. He had his head cocked to the side so Ruzek could see the questioning look on his face. Ruzek looked at the redheaded woman who was still fighting back tears.

"I didn't know I was going to be in your district. I just found out this guy's location like an hour ago, and I had to meet him before he changed his mind and left. I'm on the edge of your district and thought I'd be in and out without having to notify you or anyone else. So who's this?"

"This is Ruzek. He's new, but he's a good kid. He'll help us. Don't worry about him."

"I'm sorry to drag you into this. They got the jump on me and I panicked. I can't move them all by myself." She stopped looking at Ruzek to look back at Voight. "I'm sorry Hank. I know I should have tried to make it look good, but my Sergeant _knows_ and he's just looking for a reason to boot me off of the force."

Voight shook his head "ok" and walked toward the door. "Ruzek grab one and drag him to the door while I get some plastic laid down."

Adam walked over to the banger who had been shot in the chest. He grabbed the man under his arms and started to drag him backward toward the door. Now that he was so close to him, Adam could smell cheap liquor on him. While Wright walked out to help Voight, Adam dragged the second thug to the door. Voight had finished banging around in his SUV. Ruzek walked out to find him and Wright unrolling clear plastic from a huge roll like you find in a meat packing plant. They spread the plastic over the whole back end of the SUV, and then Hank and Adam laid the gang members on top of it one by one.

No one would have faulted Wright for shooting two bangers that had attacked her, but shooting the third guy through the back would not have set well with IA. She was edging the line on a lot of issues. If her boss or Internal Affairs wanted to push her out, they could. And from the sound of things Wright had made a few other mistakes that had her boss thinking poorly of her.

While Voight and Ruzek were catching their breath, Wright crawled into the vehicle and positioned the roll of plastic wrap near the front of the SUV. Voight reached over the dead bodies, being careful not to get blood on his plaid shirt, grabbed the end of the plastic and pulled it over their bodies. They did that twice until the bodies were covered, then they laid a blanket and Voight and Ruzek's coats over the plastic. It looked like there was a huge pile of coats in the back. Anyone glancing in would not realize it was a pile of career ending evidence.

Wright walked back inside the building. Voight followed her. Ruzek hesitated, he didn't know what else there was to do. He walked to the doorway and stopped to listen and watch what Voight would do now. The redheaded woman stood in the middle of the room staring at the blood. Her back was to them and she had her left hand on her forehead, she was clearly feeling bad about what had happened.

"I'm sorry I couldn't take care of this by myself. If it had been one guy, I would have handled it by myself. I'm sorry I called you, and I'm sorry this happened in your district."

She had a breathy, soft, voice that was sexy. Voight walked up behind her, stopping about three feet from her and said,

"It's alright Josie. Anytime you're in trouble, call me. I'll always answer."

_Wow. _Thought Adam. _That's not the reaction I would get if I got myself in a situation this bad._

"I was half afraid you wouldn't answer. I know I said some harsh things to you the last time we talked. I'm not going to apologize for them, because they were true, but I am sorry I was so harsh."

She paused and it was easy to tell she was trying not to cry. Voight was standing very still looking at the ground. Adam switched between looking at his boss and this patrolman who seemed to have history with Voight. She was looking out the window now, away from Voight.

"I better get going, my partner should have gotten whatever video there is to get from the store manager by now. I just wanted to let you know that you didn't have to come here, but I appreciate that you did. Tell O I said hi, tell him I miss him."

Voight hadn't moved. He didn't seem moved emotionally by what she had said and his body was still.

"Should we do something with the blood?" As she asked she turned around to face Voight but he kept looking at the spots on the floor.

"I'll clean it up, I've got time. I think it's going to be fine, no one is going to give two shits about these guys." He looked up at her and she nodded.

She put her head back down and went to walk past Voight to the door, but as she passed him, he reached out and caught her elbow. She stopped but she didn't look at him. They paused for a moment, with her now looking at the floor and him looking at her. Then Voight spoke.

"Are you sure you're okay? Do you need anything else from me?"

Josie winced. She swallowed and opened her mouth, but she seemed to be having a hard time deciding what words to say. Voight waited and Adam was having a hard time figuring out what the expression was that was on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

Josie wasn't wincing because Voight was gripping her arm too hard, he was barely touching her. But she looked like she was in pain. She finally managed to get some sound out.

"No Hank. You've done enough. I'm okay. I'm going to go. I won't call you again. It's unfair and I know that. I just didn't have anyone else solid to call."

"Josie... You can call me anytime. Politics be damned."

Hank's voice was low and full of emotion, but Adam had heard every word. What did he mean by politics? Adam had never heard of this Wright woman, but something big had happened between her and Voight. Now Adam was having to control his emotions. He had gotten a lot of flak for dating Burgess. What right did Voight have to tell him not to date an officer if he had been? Josie teared up again as she pulled away from Voight.

"I have to go. Thanks for your help." She pushed past Adam to go to her patrol car.

Adam didn't say a word. He didn't say anything as Hank poured bleach over the blood spots. He didn't make a sound on the drive to the ghetto. He didn't say anything when they dumped the bodies in an alley, and he didn't say anything when Voight pulled his truck over on the side of the street 3 blocks from their precinct. He just stared straight ahead.

"Adam, I know what you're thinking."

Adam had to smirk at that. He had planned not to give his boss a reaction, but he couldn't be stone faced, it just wasn't in his personality. Voight continued in an even, low, voice.

"You're thinking that I'm a hypocritical son of a bitch that doesn't care about you or your personal life. But that's not true. My rule is you can't date a cop that is in my precinct. You can have a relationship with someone that is equal to your rank, but you shouldn't date someone whom you have command over. I say this, not only because it's departmental policy, but because things get messy when you don't obey these rules. I made these rules my personal rules, years ago after I almost lost my badge and Josie's."

Adam turned to look at him. Voight never talked about his personal life, and he and Ruzek weren't close. He sat shocked as he realized Voight was letting him in on yet another secret.

"Josie worked in the Gang Unit for a while. We worked together a lot because we understood each other and if things got tense with a gang member I didn't have to tell her what to do, and she didn't have to ask. We just acted and we always had each other's back. We worked with Olinksy and occasionally with Dawson. We, her and I, got along so well we started hanging out in bars together after work. This was after my wife had died. Eventually, we started going home together."

Adam couldn't believe what he was hearing. How had Olinksy known who they were going to meet?

"I really liked her. To the point that I didn't like her drinking with other guys from the department. I had a hard time ignoring my feelings at work and I got overly protective of her. I left other officers in danger to make sure she was safe first. When I started using my rank to keep her at the precinct, or out on nuisance calls instead of doing real work arresting bangers, she got mad at me. We've broken up and made up so many times, I can't tell you how long we dated. But it got really serious for a while and I had a lot of things to figure out. Some people said we were good for each other and that we should have tried harder to make it work. Others said we were a disaster and shouldn't be in the same city let alone the same precinct."

Voight shrugged and paused to give Adam a chance to respond, but he didn't know what to say.

"She's more than 20 years younger than me, but she's smart and she's mature for her age. She's also got a great sense of humor. She could always make me smile and look on the bright side of things. She is a good cop, and she's kept me from making some bad decisions in the heat of the moment. She's also the reason about half of the guys from the Gang unit don't talk to me anymore. She should be a detective by now, but one of our superiors caught us out at a restaurant one night and threatened to have I.A. take a look at me."

Voight raised an eyebrow then looked out the windshield and continued his story.

"At first he thought I had coerced her into being there, so he was going to have me fired. She told him that _she_ had insisted on dinner and had been pursuing me and it would stop. So we pretended to break up. That superior officer had her transferred to District 22 that week. That was the one good thing that came out of that situation. We shouldn't work in the same district. The worst thing was that he put a certain symbol in her jacket. You wouldn't know this, lower ranking officers don't, but commanders and other high ranking officers draw special symbols in your file. It looks like an ink blot, but it lets other commanders know about things that, while not official problems, are considered to be issues. These symbols and the issues they stand for are why good cops don't get promoted, but bad cops with connections do."

Ruzek was shocked. He had never heard of this.

"They have Josie marked as someone trying to sleep her way up the chain of command. It's not true, she hasn't slept with any cop but me, but it's in her file and I can't stand up for her without getting in trouble. It's a lose-lose situation. She thought once a few years passed and some of the commanders got promoted away from us, or changed districts, she'd finally make detective. But she never has. That's why people in the Gang Unit are mad at me. I have messed up her career."

Voight hung his head. Then he sighed, lifted his head back up and looked Ruzek in the eye.

"You've delayed Burgess by a year. Stop dating her and I'll see she gets moved up next year."

Adam sighed and shook his head that he understood. What could he say? His boss had laid a lot of heavy things on him and he needed to think.

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><p>Later that night when they were all back at the precinct, when their shift was almost over, Adam was getting a cup of coffee in the break room. He heard the door close and turned around to see Olinksy standing there.<p>

"Well, how bad was it? Or did he tell you not to tell me?"

Alvin's face was expressionless as usual. Adam took a sip of coffee and decided to see how far he could push it. Voight was on a phone call with a Sergeant in Flint and wouldn't know they were talking.

"He said you liked her and you'd feel bad you weren't able to help her and not to tell you."

Alvin frowned. "Unable to help her? What, because of my arm? What did she need?"

"How do you even know who we went to see?!"

"Let me take a guess- she had red hair, freckles, and Cupid bow lips. That's the face that matches the ringtone that went off on his phone before he called you into his office."

"Oh." Adam said. He hadn't thought about the fact that Olinksy had known Hank long enough to know who he had his ringtones set for on his phone.

"Some bangers tricked her into a trap but she shot her way out. We had to do some _heavy lifting_. He got emotional when she went to leave. He told me he got a mark put in her police file. Do the commanding officers really do that? Special notations?"

Alvin's eyes showed surprise. "I can't believe he told you that. No one is supposed to know that, there are some commanders who want those marks taken out. What _else _did he tell you?"

"He basically told me he ruined her career and he's afraid I'm going to do the same to Burgess and I need to stop dating her. What do you think O?"

Olinksy paused. He folded his arms across his chest and sighed.

"You know what an actual yin yang symbol looks like? Like how there is a black dot in the middle of the white and a white dot in the middle of the black tear drop?"

Adam nodded, "Yeah."

"She is the white dot in the middle of the black. She's the yin to his yang. She is a by the book cop that kept him doing things above board. He showed her how to bend the rules to keep people safe. She balanced us as a unit for a long time when we were in Gangs. But then... well... let's just say they blurred together to make gray and there wasn't a balance anymore. If you can't keep your romantic feelings for her at home, and your work commands at work, you will ruin your relationship."

With that Alvin opened the door and left. Adam took another sip of his coffee and leaned against the counter, deep in thought.


End file.
